Commish feedback #1: Thoughts on limiting

[Bills04 46]

I joined a new league this year. At the time, I did NOT know that Team Owners are limited to TWO waiver-wire transactions per week...

 

The league's thinking is that you should draft the team you want. "You shouldn't be able to basically 'get a new team' (via the WW)."

 

Do other leagues do this? All the leagues I've played in previously were unlimited.

[juha10 0]

All my leagues are unlimited ww transactions.. The newest league I joined with a friend was 2 per week and it made things very hard with injury, bye weeks, and wanting to take flyers on guys week to week.... Got them to change it to 3 per week this year. Going for 4 or more next year... LOL

 

Limiting to 2 per week leaves teams that are bad or have multiple injuries and bye weeks at a competitive disadvantage

 

I've had weeks where I was missing 4/5 guys with bye/injury and if I could not have picked up more than 2 players would have been screwed

 

Also trying to find guys before they hit big is near impossible to do with only 2 moves per week, especially if you stream defenses....

[Serpent 51]

I hate leagues that limit moves although a nominal charge for moves over a certain number a week that gets added to the pot I can kind of tolerate. Still at minimum I'd want at least 5 waiver/FA moves a week.

 

Limiting the waiver moves pretty much takes away entirely what little skill there is in fantasy. Especially to 2. That sounds like it's a league full of people that just want to set their lineups once a year and not look again. I'm far more interested in competitive, active leagues.

[The Next Generation 10]

the only time I have ever done this was in my work league where we always have to beg/plead/convince owners to join to field a full league. So, to make it so the hard core guys (like 5 or so) don't monopolize everything and to entice owners to stay, we limited it. BUT, I really don't like it or think it should happen in most leagues.

[dreen626 17]

Limit for what??

[chroniciguana 13]

Yet another solution in search of a problem. In what universe are people discarding their draft and plucking entirely new rosters off the waiver wire? And in what universe would this possibly be a recipe for success? That said, I can't recall ever pulling more than two players from the WW in one week. But I don't see the need for a nanny to tell me I can't. There are many of us who focus our draft day attention on RBs, WRs, etc. We use the WW as our bench for Ks and D/STs. Even TEs. Why should a league deprive us of the ability to put more money in your pocket every week?

[Captain Goomy Noomy Roo 47]

Limiting WW selections is

 

Makes no sense... Guys need to have every opportunity to make moves to improve teams throughout the season.

 

Why limit selections? Given waiver order, all teams get a fair shot at the wire...

 

WW LIMIT = Dumbest thing I have ever heard

 

[Serpent 51]

Yet another solution in search of a problem. In what universe are people discarding their draft and plucking entirely new rosters off the waiver wire? And in what universe would this possibly be a recipe for success? That said, I can't recall ever pulling more than two players from the WW in one week. But I don't see the need for a nanny to tell me I can't. There are many of us who focus our draft day attention on RBs, WRs, etc. We use the WW as our bench for Ks and D/STs. Even TEs. Why should a league deprive us of the ability to put more money in your pocket every week?

 

I've had a few teams every few years where only one pick from my draft is still on my roster at the end of the year. It happens. I had one year where 5 of my first 6 picks got season ending injuries. I don't remember if I won that league, but I think I did make the playoffs and get pretty far.

[Super Cubs 133]

We used to have a limit of 6 for the year. We've added two more teams (12 total) and dropped the roster sizes down to 16. We now have a limit 9 total waiver transactions for the year. I try to use only 6 or 7 and trade the rest to teams in need.

 

I've had a few teams every few years where only one pick from my draft is still on my roster at the end of the year. It happens. I had one year where 5 of my first 6 picks got season ending injuries. I don't remember if I won that league, but I think I did make the playoffs and get pretty far.

Which year and who were the 5 players?

[Serpent 51]

We used to have a limit of 6 for the year. We've added two more teams (12 total) and dropped the roster sizes down to 16. We now have a limit 9 total waiver transactions for the year. I try to use only 6 or 7 and trade the rest to teams in need.

 

 

Which year and who were the 5 players?

 

I don't remember the injured guys, although I think there was a TE in there (Dallas Clark?) and the uninjured guy was I believe LeSean McCoy in his rookie year. Probably I had McFadden too since he's a safe bet to be injured.

[Bills04 46]

"Bump"

[Matt Mueller 146]

I have a tough time with my 35 max moves per season league.

 

I wouldn't play in a league like this.

[idiotec 31]

Best thing IMO is to charge per move. Makes people think more about each move and creates a bigger pot. Win/win

[Giants Fan 85]

I played in a league that limited roster moves per year. I guess it basically prevents churning, and it also makes it a little less competitive IMHO. It's a decent thing to do, if you want to have a casual league and prevent any 1 person from just working harder than the rest of you and putting together a stellar team by the end of the season.

 

I don't like leagues that limit FA moves, because I am obsessive about my roster. I mean, look, I blocked my opponent (RG3 owner) from picking up Russel Wilson, Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins at certain points this week, and in the end he started Palmer. I won by 8 points and am going to the championship. There's more to the game than just picking good players in the draft.

[GreenTD 56]

Transaction limits are stupid. If anything, charge $ for transactions so owners think more about add/drops.

[madd futher mucker 36]

The 1st fantasy league I joined about 15 years ago had stiff transaction fees, which was unbearable to me because i made a lot of waiver pick-ups only to finish out of the money. My transaction fees cost me way more than my $100 entry fee. It also is hard enough for a commissioner to collect the annual league dues, let alone account for waiver transaction fees. So from my experience with the transaction fee idea, it really sucks.

 

Then I joined a league with unrestricted transactions, only to find that the following year the league voted to impose a 25 transaction limit for the season (including trades). I voted against that, but eventually became a believer that the transaction limit concept made FF both more challenging and more interesting. Over the years, I've played in leagues that had transaction limits as low as 20 per season and as high as 30. Personally, I feel that if you are going to have transaction limits, 25 per season is about the right number. While i favor the season limit approach within a reasonable range of 20 to 30 transactions, I'd absolutely be cool with your league's limit of two waiver pick-ups per week.

 

More important is how your league's waiver system operates. Unrestricted game-day FCFS open waivers is totally lame, and I don't like a continuous worst record first system much either. While I understand the parity argument, the4 better teams never get a crack at the new flavor of the week. Nor am I much of a fan of revolving waiver priority.

 

That said, the waiver system that I absolutely love is the blind bid waiver system. All sites now accomodate this system, and it is by far the most popular, equitable, challenging and fun system among fantasy players. With the blind bid waiver system there is no need for waiver transaction limits because the owner's personal bidding philosophy and the 'market' dictate how many transactions you will make. I recommend $1000 in 'waiver dollars' per season. Owners can bid as much or as little as they want on any free agent player until they spend their whole budget for the year.

 

Many leagues allow for an open FCFS free-for-all immediately after the bid players are awarded until the first game of the week for the particular player. This is a very fun approach which creates its own 'vulture-time' swap meet.

I've also played in leagues where there were no open waivers at all after bids were awarded. This is much more challenging, and is usually only used in leagues with larger roster sizes, because if your kicker pulls a hammy after waiver players are awarded, you are focked for that week.

 

In summary, I don't have a problem with your league's 2 player per week waiver limit, but if it really pizzes you off that much, you can always join a different league next year. Or push a proposal for a change to the Blind Bid Waiver system. Your leaguemates will find that the waiver system is much more fun and eliminates the rationale for placing any player limits on waivers.

[NewbieJr 541]

Best thing IMO is to charge per move. Makes people think more about each move and creates a bigger pot. Win/win

This is what we do. $3.00 per pickup.

[swirvenirvin 25]

Best thing IMO is to charge per move. Makes people think more about each move and creates a bigger pot. Win/win

Yes charge per move. There is NO reason you need to pick up 4 or 5 guys a week So you are telling me all your guys got hurt the same week and all the rest of your guys are on bye? Doubt it. Dumb to limit transaction but maybe it was done cause there were some guys pocking up 4 guys each and every week

[Bills04 46]

"Bumpitty, bump-bump"

[polecat21 0]

No limits on WW pick ups, $4 per pick, but we close the WW after the playoffs start, so you have to your roster set by then.

[kilroy69 1,026]

my favorite league had no ww.....at all. we had a midseason draft of all the ww players and that was it.

[LunaTick 29]

Our does, and it is just part of the field you play in.

 

Our league doesn't otherwise restrict the WW, other than limiting to 2 and this through the playoffs.

Trades are not limited, other than you cannot trade WW allotment and trading ends at the end of the regular season.

 

It does avoid a team from squatting on all the decent WW the first few weeks.

There are a few times you wish you could take 3, but you just plan for these.

 

You should have enough roster spots to deal with injury. But on it when these occur. And aware enough to know and prioritize when and which move to make each week.

[Super Cubs 133]

I'm all for limiting waivers. We have a limit of 9 and before that it was 6. Our commish is not a big fan of rotating kicks and defenses. Next year our waivers will be 8 till week 10. Week 11 all teams will have a option to add 2 players with out dropping. Closes week 12. One thing I really like is with the limits we are aloud to trade our waivers picks.

[jgcrawfish 232]

Yet another solution in search of a problem. In what universe are people discarding their draft and plucking entirely new rosters off the waiver wire? And in what universe would this possibly be a recipe for success? That said, I can't recall ever pulling more than two players from the WW in one week. But I don't see the need for a nanny to tell me I can't. There are many of us who focus our draft day attention on RBs, WRs, etc. We use the WW as our bench for Ks and D/STs. Even TEs. Why should a league deprive us of the ability to put more money in your pocket every week?

 

I've got exactly 4 of my original 16 draft picks on my roster, Ryan, Julio Jones, McFadden and Bradshaw. Everybody else has been replaced by someone on the WW or a couple of them sent packing in trades. I'm still playing for the championship this week. I played in a league where we had a $2 per move fee. I spent WAY more money than everybody else, in my mind I was just putting it back into my own pocket at the end of the year if by making moves I could win. I tend to echo what Serpent said earlier, working the WW is the last "skill" that makes a difference in fantasy football. All that being said, I love blind auction waiver wire. I'm not really a fan of the reverse record waiver wire as it rewards weaker teams. I'm also not a fan of limiting the waiver claims per week or even per season because there is no telling how many you might need. As many injuries and missed games as I had this year I'd have been dead without the waiver wire, and none of it would have been my fault or in my control. The 25 limit that MFM talked about is essentially 1.5 per week, which would probably drive me crazy. I usually do a pretty good job drafting (this year aside) but also seem to be pretty unlucky on the injury front.

[Captain Goomy Noomy Roo 47]

I'm all for limiting waivers. We have a limit of 9 and before that it was 6. Our commish is not a big fan of rotating kicks and defenses. Next year our waivers will be 8 till week 10. Week 11 all teams will have a option to add 2 players with out dropping. Closes week 12. One thing I really like is with the limits we are aloud to trade our waivers picks.

 

 

This is dumb... Each owner should be allowed to pick from the wire each week and their order is update according to picks made... It makes no sense to limit WW picks.

[Agamemnon 2]

I've got exactly 4 of my original 16 draft picks on my roster, Ryan, Julio Jones, McFadden and Bradshaw.

 

I have five of fifteen original draft selections (14 Team League), namely Rodgers, TRich, B. Marshall, Frank Gore and Kenny Britt. I have no idea why I'm still holding Kenny!!!

 

We start 9 (QB,RB,WR,WR,TE,FLEX,FLEX,K,D), leaving only six bench positions with no Injured Reserve. The lack of a place to stash and replace injured players is what makes our WW churn. When the bye weeks hit, you either hold injured players and take a ZERO or you dump them and pick up a replacement. I elected to dump Amendola when he dislocated his clavicle and didn't get him back. I acquired Pierre Garcon in the same manner. You win some and you lose some!

 

In closing, my position on limiting WW transactions would depend on how your league is set up; if you have huge rosters and start eight, not a problem. If you did it in our league, half the teams would be taking ZEROS in multiple weeks - what purpose does that serve?

[idiotec 31]

50% of the country thinks fairness > freedom hence these leagues that limit the WW

[PATSSOX 22]

Limiting waiver pick ups sucks. You just asking for limited participation in my opinion. We had a league like that at work and it sucked. Only had like 20 pick ups per year so was not much fun.

[Boilermaker04 11]

That said, the waiver system that I absolutely love is the blind bid waiver system. All sites now accomodate this system, and it is by far the most popular, equitable, challenging and fun system among fantasy players. With the blind bid waiver system there is no need for waiver transaction limits because the owner's personal bidding philosophy and the 'market' dictate how many transactions you will make. I recommend $1000 in 'waiver dollars' per season. Owners can bid as much or as little as they want on any free agent player until they spend their whole budget for the year.

 

Agreed. Bid waivers solve so many problems.

[Bills04 46]

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

 

I cut-and-pasted the comments in a Word document, and will be sharing them with my league, shortly.

[jaxjag 43]

For starters, I think a fee should be associated with every waiver acquisition - so that activity is a good thing ($)

 

The fact that people think there was a problem that needed to be solved with a 2 player limit is interesting. Do you have a worst to first system? Could the worst teams pick an unlimited number of players before the "better" teams got their choice? Was the real problem an inequality in how the waiver wire was managed?

[Bills04 46]

For starters, I think a fee should be associated with every waiver acquisition - so that activity is a good thing ($)

 

The fact that people think there was a problem that needed to be solved with a 2 player limit is interesting. Do you have a worst to first system? Could the worst teams pick an unlimited number of players before the "better" teams got their choice? Was the real problem an inequality in how the waiver wire was managed?

 

As I indicated in my originating post: The league's thinking is that you should draft the team you want. "You shouldn't be able to basically 'get a new team' (via the WW)."

 

For some asinine reason - people think that Team Owners will "draft a new team, off of the WW." I had a discussion with a league member about this the other day, and stressed that the "best" players would be taken during the DRAFT. WW pick ups were to cover injuries, and bye-weeks. He still didn't see it that way, and wanted to prohibit excessive WW activity / people being able to draft an entirely new team using the WW...

[BufordT 374]

If you want the best "Drafted" team to win, you limit WW p/u's.

 

If you want the guy/gal who spends hours and hours analyzing their team, to win, you have unlimited WW p/u's.

 

If you want a league where you have hunt people down for their money, you charge for WW p/u's.

 

If you want the smartest/craftiest FF'er to win, the blind auction is best. We use $200 in my main league of 20+ yrs, actually started the auction system about 10 yrs ago and never had a problem that I recall.

 

I will say that I would favor any system that limits the ability for FF'ers to "roll" their DEF's week in/week out. Takes away from strategizing during the draft in my opinion.

[jaxjag 43]

As I indicated in my originating post: The league's thinking is that you should draft the team you want. "You shouldn't be able to basically 'get a new team' (via the WW)."

 

For some asinine reason - people think that Team Owners will "draft a new team, off of the WW." I had a discussion with a league member about this the other day, and stressed that the "best" players would be taken during the DRAFT. WW pick ups were to cover injuries, and bye-weeks. He still didn't see it that way, and wanted to prohibit excessive WW activity / people being able to draft an entirely new team using the WW...

 

I think the vast majority of people will agree that drafting a "new team" off the waiver is hardly a recipe for success. There is a reason those players are free agents.

 

Personally, I went 8 weeks without making a move to retain my waiver priority. When the situation presented itself, I made 5 moves in one week (one player I really wanted and depth at several positions). Is 5 moves in 9 weeks excessive?

 

Your league member is an idiot. Feel free to show him (her) this post.

[Lacoop 0]

I don't like limiting either. There are some very casual owners in my league who probably don't read a single website all week and make lineup changes right before kickoff on Sunday. Then there are those like me who scour the internet for news and try to be smart about pickups. Pretty sure that all of us who are participating in a fantasy forum like this are the more involved owners.

 

Limiting just tries to even the playing field, so the savvy owners who do more research can't take advantage of those bump on a logs who do diddly squat. I don't like it. As others have said, if you want to try to make people think more about their moves, then charge $1 or something for each move. But that is a pain for the commish to have to go after everybody for money after the season has ended.

[LunaTick 29]

Most, if not all leagues, do some form of Free Agency Limiting

 

Common format is Waiver Wire.

Where in opportunity to pickup a FA is occurs during a Limited Time Period between end of game/before beginning of games.

This is either done in reverse order of standing or by bid.

 

Limiting the Number of FA moves is another.

This can be done by week or by season.

 

 

Now I do not know how common it is. But the league I am in does limit number of transactions to two a week. But players can be acquired whenever. This is no time when FA is not available. Rather, which week the player is available.

 

As for FA/WW fees. Thats up to you. An established league, fees should not be an issue.

 

Nice things is there are options, (except for how pathetic some Management sites are (espn))

[jaxjag 43]

Most, if not all leagues, do some form of Free Agency Limiting

 

Common format is Waiver Wire.

Where in opportunity to pickup a FA is occurs during a Limited Time Period between end of game/before beginning of games.

This is either done in reverse order of standing or by bid.

 

Limiting the Number of FA moves is another.

This can be done by week or by season.

 

 

Now I do not know how common it is. But the league I am in does limit number of transactions to two a week. But players can be acquired whenever. This is no time when FA is not available. Rather, which week the player is available.

 

As for FA/WW fees. Thats up to you. An established league, fees should not be an issue.

 

Nice things is there are options, (except for how pathetic some Management sites are (espn))

 

As long as you have a fair waiver priority system (who gets a player if multiple teams want him), what is the rationale for limiting the number of moves made?